Pastor's Corner ~ "Open My Eyes Lord, I Want To See You"

I hope you see and experience the difference inside the church as you walked in
today and, most especially, as you sat in the new pews. It was pretty amazing how fast and efficient the crew took out the old pews last Sunday after the Spanish Mass. We had more than 40 volunteer parishioners who showed up to take out the old pews. They came prepared with their tools, and it took us less than an hour to haul out all the old pews. Some of the old pews went to a mission church on the coast, to the chapel at the Vocation House of the Archdiocese, and some went to the homes of our parishioners. Ralph and Diane Punchocar were very generous in allowing us to store in their barn the other pews that were not taken; Ralph made several trips on Sunday and Monday morning to get the remaining pews. Their kindness and generosity are truly greatly appreciated. There are not a lot of old pews left, but without Ralph and Diane’s kindness, we would not have a place to store them. I also would like to thank the ladies who cooked and prepared dinner for our volunteers. With the variety of food that they prepared, they worked as hard as the guys who did the heavy lifting. Our volunteers had a wonderful dinner after all the heavy lifting. Let us maintain the cleanliness of our pews by taking good care of them just like we take care of our furniture at our own homes.
We are already almost half way in our Lenten journey. The days towards the Easter sacraments for our catechumens and candidates are getting shorter and shorter. We have quite a big group again this year preparing to be received into our faith community at the Easter Vigil. Throughout the school year, but most especially the past four successive Sundays, I have had the joyful privilege to teach them the important elements of our faith. Our classes usually run from 10:10am to 12pm. This is the reason why I haven’t been able to celebrate the 10:45am Mass for the past several weeks. Please keep our candidates and catechumens in your prayers as they continue to prepare themselves for their full integration to the Church.
In the Gospel today, we heard the story of the man born blind. The interesting twist in this story is that the man who was born blind could see better than the scribes and Pharisees who were out to discredit him and Jesus. The blind man saw Jesus as the Messiah, but those who were supposed to have discerned deeper and easier the working of God because they were more “educated” in God’s laws, were blinded by their s
elf-centeredness and personal agendas. More crippling than physical blindness is spiritual blindness. It cripples the heart, the seat of the soul. Things that drive us away from God are the same things that blind us. What are the things that continue to blind us in our full appreciation of who we are as sons and daughters of God? How about those things that blind us to embrace forgiveness, charity and compassion? Do we see others as inferior, therefore less worthy of our respect and consideration? Let us ask for grace to have renewed spiritual sight. The communion antiphon for this Sunday’s Mass sums it up: “The Lord anointed my eyes: I went, I washed, I saw and I believed in God.”
Before I end this article, I would like to express our profoundest thanks to the Knights of Columbus for sponsoring the two Lenten Fish Fry’s this year. It’s not an easy feat to put on these events, especially on a Friday when of most of our Knights are coming from work. We truly appreciate their hard work and unwavering service to our community.
– Fr. Cary